Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1887-10-13

McDOnalu iOur nunOre0 men were col
lected from the western part Of Virginia
In June, l774, by order of Lord Dun
more, the Governor OF Virginia. Their
rendezvous was at Wheeling, whence
theywent down the river in canoes to
the mouth Of the Captina. and thence
across the country to Wakatomaea,
about sixteen miles below Coshocton.
Six miles from the town they met a
party Of forty of fifty Indians who gave
skirInish by way Of ambascade. On ar
irving at the town they found 1t evacu-
ted, and the Indians had retreated to
the opposite shore of the river, where
they had formed an ambuseade. Soon
after the town was taken and the In
dians on the opposite shore sued for
peace which the commander consented
to, in case they would send over their
chiefs as hostages. Five came over and
were put under guard. The Indians
represented that they could not make
peace without the presence ofthe chiefs
of the other towns. One chief was re-
leased to bring in the Others but did not
return. Then another was released
with the same result. The Indian
towns were then burned and the small
army returned to Virginia. This was
known as Lord Dunmore's war, but
was too Insignificant to- be called war.
COL. JOHN GIBSON, "LoNG KNIFE" AT
PORT LAURENs.
The man who caused the greatest ter
ror among the hostile Indians west of
the Ohio, from 1774 to 1882, was Col.
John Gibson, native of Lancaster
county, Pennsylvania. He was born
at Lancaster, in 1740. His first service
was in Gen. Forbes expedition against
the French and Indians, after which he
became trader at Fort Pitt, and at the
mouth of Beaver Creek, where,
he and two others were captured by the
Indians, who took them to Virginia,
on the Kanhawa; here the Indians in
tended to burn them, but were pre-
vented by squaw who adopted them.
He remained some time with the Indi-
ans, but finally returned and took part
in Dunmore's War, in 1774. At Camp
Charlotte, seeing the great Logan, one
of whose relatives he had married, he
took the liberty, it is said, of immortal
izing Logan by working up'' that ia
NOUS speech, which is familiar to ev-
cry school-boy, as written in Jefferson's
words. In the Revolution he command
ed the Seventh Virginia. Regiment,
served in New York New Jersey and the
West and visited Schoenbrunn on the
Tuscarawas, as a peace agent. In 1779
he commanded for time the garrison at
Fort Lauzens, near the present Bolivar,
although it was invested by over 700
warriors for six weeks, and had but 100
defenders fit for duty, such was their
fear of Gibson-"The Long Knife" that
they never attempted an assault. Col.
Gibson soon after this returned to Fort
Pitt and assumed command there. A
party of Delawares and Mingoes tried
to ambush Gibson on his way to Fort
Pitt. Accidentally he met few Indians
under "Little Eagle" Mingo chief
who, seeing Gibson, gave yell and
fired at him, the ball perforating his
coat but doing him no harm. He was
so near Little Eagle that, raising his
sword, he cleaved Little Eagles head
from his body in an instant. Two saw
ages were slain on the spot and the rest
fled. Gibson carried "Little Eagles"
head with him to Fort Pitt. He now
became more then ever the terror of the
Indians, and before the war closed Long
Knives was a term applied to the
Americans generally. Then he learned
of the expedition of Williamson threat
ening death to the Moravian Indians,
he sent q runner to them, who came
too late to warn them. This excited
the borderers and they charged Gibson
with treason, so that he was compelled
to remain in the fort. He remained at
Ft. Pitt during the war. In 1890, he
was member of the Pennsylvania
Constitutional Convention, and in 1900
was made Secretary of Indiana Terri
tory. Afterward he retired to private
life, and died, in 1922, near Braddock's
field, Pennsylvania.
SIMON GIRTY.
Simon, George and James Girty were
from Northwestern Pennsylvania, and
in the French war of 1854 were cap
tured by the Indians. Simon Joined
the Senecas, James the Shawnees, and
George the Wyandots, by whom they
were regularly adopted. Simon roamed
over Eastern Ohio with the tribe, and
was one of the hostages taken by Bo-
quet in 1894. He figured in Dunmore's
war on the side of the whites and Joined
the Revolutionary militia at Fort Pitt,
but being refused captains commits
sion he deserted with over twenty 9TH
ers, went to Coshocton, infiamed the
Delawares under Pipe against the
America, and died in 1918 In Canada.
THE TRUTH ABOUT SIMON GIRTY.
Tn the Magazine of American His
tory, Mr.. Geo. w. Rauck contributes
an extensive article on "Simon Girty,
the White Indian" which has half
page illustration of the old fort at Lex
ington, KY. in 1882. Girty was born
near Harrisburg, Pa, in 1744, and was
the son of a lawless, intemperate Irish
man. Simon was twelve years old
when his mother, himself and three
brothers were made prisoners BY the
Indians. One brother escaped, but
Simon and the remaining two grew up
to prefer savage to civilized life.-i
Simon acted as an interpreter at Fort
Pitt at the beginning of the Revolution
and was paid by Conally, the Tory
commandant at the fort, to incite the
savages to war on the Patriots.
Girty Joined the Wyandots at Upper
Sandusky and led Indian raids on the
white settlements. He commanded
the Indian party that defeated Colonel
David Rogers at the mouth of the Lick
ing in 1880. The writer says that
Girty was substantially an Indian,
neither better nor worse. He was a
leader of his adopted people, and
always retained their confidence and
friendship. He died in 1878, aged
seventy-four, on his farm near Am